Sinclair Spotlight: Best Road to Their Future

Two life-altering things happened for Chanise Quisenberry on May 29, 2009 – one that she had been expecting for the previous nine months, and one totally unexpected.

The first, as the timeline would suggest, was she became a mother, giving birth to her daughter, Natalie. The second was, through the process, she also discovered her career calling.

Because of what she experienced that day, she decided she was meant to be a nurse-midwife.

Quisenberry is back on Sinclair’s campus this fall, continuing her studies towards her Associate Degree in Nursing and status as a Registered Nurse. She’s nearing the midway point in her personal plan that will culminate in a master’s degree and earning Certified Nurse-Midwife credentials for herself.

Nurse-midwives often work closely with patients during their pregnancies and birthing experiences, providing a personalized option that puts patients at ease.

Quisenberry credits a Sinclair nursing grad named Mary, a midwife at Miami Valley Hospital who got her through the 12 hours of labor that day in 2009 but also the earlier parts of her pregnancy, for inspiring her interest.

“We talked during one of my visits and that’s when I began to focus on being a midwife,” Quisenberry said. “I really liked the idea of following pregnancies from beginning to end. The doctor (in delivery) wasn’t familiar with me, but she was familiar. She had followed my journey and knew what I wanted.”

One remark that really stood out was Mary saying she truly felt prepared from her Sinclair training once she started clinical work. “She also said it was affordable, and I should have went right then!” Quisenberry laughs today.

Instead, she had a roundabout path towards realizing what her medical goals really were. At the time of Natalie’s birth, Quisenberry was a senior at Patterson Career Center two days short of graduation. (Yes, she recovered quickly enough to march with her classmates.) She also earned her first credential in the nursing field, passing the State Tested Nursing Assistant exam.

With limited flexibility in her work schedule, she eventually chose to pursue her Licensed Practical Nurse training at a for-profit college. She made it through in a year, but Quisenberry and two of her fellow classmates weren’t overwhelmed by certain aspects of the training, and found it expensive.

All three chose to move to Sinclair to pursue their RN training.

I could have went back there for my RN,” Quisenberry said, “but after looking at it, I felt I would be more prepared if I went to Sinclair. No one is passing you just to get you through the program. At Sinclair, they are teaching you in an instructive way and want you to truly understand that when you get out in the field, this is somebody’s life you are dealing with, so you need to understand X, Y and Z.

She describes her first semester in Sinclair’s program last winter as rigorous, but knowing the purpose of what she has ahead, she is grateful for that. Quisenberry took to heart the direction being given by faculty member Vivian Jackson, an associate professor of nursing at Sinclair: “You are a student and this is the time you need to learn. This needs to be your nursing backbone that you rely on.”

(As a side note, yes, that is also Quisenberry you see as the featured student in Sinclair’s nursing program advertising this fall.)

Quisenberry views her life continuing to move forward on an upward arc. Her LPN helped her get a better job, and she’s also gotten married and had a second daughter, Olivia. Once she completes her Sinclair degree, her plan is to follow Sinclair’s bridge agreement and transfer to Wright State for her Bachelor Degree in Nursing. That will be followed by two more years of graduate studies from Frontier Nursing University, a distance education option that would result in her earning her Master of Science degree.

At that point, she would be ready to assume her own pivotal role in helping others reach motherhood. Quisenberry still remembers how the midwife who helped her in 2009 described the realities of the job.

“She called it a very rewarding job. You’ll have bad days sometimes where you will go home and cry, but for the most part, you see all these babies being born, and after they’re born, they’ll bring your pictures and you see them start to grow up, and all of that good stuff. So, yeah, it made me want to be a midwife. You have to enjoy your work.”